The Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps battalion at the University of Pennsylvania hosted a change-of-command ceremony, Wednesday, Oct. 7, to welcome its new commanding officer, Marine Corps Col. Kenneth DeTreux, a Philadelphia native and an alumnus of the NROTC program at Penn. 

The ceremony took place at 7 a.m. in the Hall of Flags in Houston Hall and served as a formal transition, allowing the outgoing commanding officer, Col. Andrew Wilcox, to hand the reigns to DeTreux. 

Both leaders addressed the midshipmen in the battalion. 

While earning his B.A. in criminal justice from Temple University, DeTreux participated in the NROTC program at Penn from 1986 to 1988. 

“It’s both surreal and exciting to be back at Penn, where my military career began almost 30 years ago,” he said. “It’s not often that a Marine officer gets the opportunity to come home to cap off a great career with such a rewarding billet.” 

With 27 years of experience, DeTreux’s Marine Corps career has taken him around the world during Operation Just Cause in Panama, Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, two tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom, two tours in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and three in Okinawa, Japan. He has also served in Albany, N.Y., Colorado Springs, Colo., Washington, D.C., Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he has held several positions over the years, but he is happy to be back in his hometown, where he attended Cardinal Dougherty High School. 

His awards include the Legion of Merit award with a gold star, Bronze Star with valor, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal and Combat Action Ribbon with two gold stars. 

After 30 years of service in the Marine Corps, Wilcox is retiring and plans to work as the general manager of a sporting ranch near Dallas. 

Since 1940, Penn’s NROTC battalion has commissioned more than 1,539 officers in the Navy and Marine Corps. It has been led by more than 25 commanding officers.